I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to recover from a terrible cold and I was looking forward to a little “me” time last night. Both kids had plans for the evening and I was all set to pour myself a cup of tea, wrap myself in a warm blanket and dive into a new book (Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw) I’ve been anxious to read. Unfortunately I completely forgot (it’s been a crazy week) that my daughter, Liana, was off to the Nickelback Concert today in Detroit. I promised I would make a treat for her and her friends to enjoy on the ride.

My plans for a quiet and relaxing evening seemed to be slipping away until Liana said “Mom could you make homemade peanut butter cookies?” Can I make peanut butter cookies? You bet! Martha Stewart has a quick and easy peanut butter cookie recipe and in no time at all I could get back to my “me” time.

One thing to keep in mind when baking these cookies, they spread. Make sure to leave at least 1 1/2-inches between them. To keep them from spreading too much I also refrigerate the dough in between baking the batches.

The cookies are thin and crispy with a delicate peanut butter flavour. If you’d like a stronger peanut flavour you can add 1/2 cup of salted peanuts to the batter but omit the salt. The peanuts will also give the cookies an extra crunch. I embellished half of the batch by piping melted milk chocolate (I couldn’t resist, chocolate and peanut butter is the best!) into the fork indentations. You could also sandwich a few with jelly.

I never did get my cup of tea! But, I did get, a tall cold glass of milk and a couple of delicious peanut butter cookies, in the end, the interruption was worth it!

Preheat oven to 350° F. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until well combined. Mix in vanilla and then peanut butter. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until centres are firm and edges are lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment to a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt chocolate until smooth, either over a gently simmering double boiler or in the microwave in 20-second increments, stopping to stir with a rubber spatula after every 20 seconds. Let chocolate stand until cool to the touch.

Fill a paper cornet (or a resealable plastic bag with a bottom corner snipped) with chocolate. Pipe chocolate into the indentations left by the fork. Set aside in a cool place to allow chocolate to set.

Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

That is disappointing when you’ve looked forward to some downtime and feel it slipping away. But looks like you found the perfect (and tasty) compromise – baking cookies for your daughter and time to snuggle in with a good book. You can do it all!

[…] feel mired in deprivation, I charted a plan to make these myself. I began with a great recipe for peanut butter cookies on the La Mia Vita Dolce site. I veganized the recipe and then dipped them in chocolate. It was all so simple then! […]